Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Halloween Comes To Hazzard County (or Halloween: Hazzard Style)


Dukes of Hazzard Halloween Costumes.  They have been coming at us since the Golden Era of the Dukes of Hazzard.  This year we get to add a few more to the collection.  Who said there were no new Dukes items being released?


Halloween 2015 sees the release of three new costumes from a company called Fun World.  They come in plastic hanging bags and are fully licensed.  The variety includes Daisy Duke, Rosco P. Coltrane, and Boss Hogg.  Let's take a look at the new costumes.


I didn't open my new costumes because that would involve tearing sealed bags.  I may pick up more down the road, but for now, this review won't include me dressing up.  That's probably a good thing considering the Daisy costume.  First comes Rosco.  The packaging follows the standard Modern Era decoration we have come to love on newer Dukes items.  The logo includes Bo and Luke, along with Daisy, even though, oddly enough, there are no Bo and Luke costumes.


The Rosco costume is very accurate to the show.  The patches are correct and the style is spot on.
The model showing off the costume is really cheesing it up, doing a good Rosco.


Fun World made a faux pas by spelling Rosco's name wrong.  I know from personal experience that the late great James Best would get mighty irritated when he came across this mistake.


Yup, this guy is saying "kew kew kew, I love it, I love it!"


The costume is one size fits most and includes the shirt, tie, pants, belt with holster, and hat.


The package carries a 2015 production date.  It actually lists the town it was produced in in China as well as the month of production.  That's a new one to me.


If you were to attempt to wear this costume, you will have some ironing and straightening to do.  The hat is very squished.


The badge looks good.


The second costume in the line is Daisy Duke.  The packaging matches the Rosco costume.


The model used for this costume is channeling more of a Jessica Simpson vibe rather than a Catherine Bach vibe.  I prefer my Daisy to be more Cathy than Jess.


She kinda even looks like Jessica.


This costume consists of a top, shorts, and a hat.  No boots in this one.  Of the three costumes, this one seems to the least useful.  If you really wanted to dress like Daisy Duke, can't you just get some Daisy Dukes and a top?


The red and white plaid top is a popular Daisy look.  But she barely ever wore a hat.


Speaking of the hat, the one that comes with the costume is crushed.  I'm not sure if this hat can be brought back to life.  It is also attached to the package with a wire that would need to be cut.  Another reason I didn't want to open the costumes.


The package also lists the production city, and month.  The faux Daisy Dukes are not made of denim.  (I used the word "faux" twice already).


Then comes the bog boy.  The final costume in the series is Jefferson Davis Hogg himself, Boss Hogg.


The model showing off the costume isn't trying as hard as they guy in the Rosco suit.  This guy seems to be portraying the fact that he doesn't care about a thing.  Boss always cared about two things, money and food.


This is my favorite of the three costumes.  How can you not love this big white suit?


This costume is basically one piece.  Besides the jumpsuit, you get the hat and tie.  It appears the jumpsuit includes a fat effect.  Just like Sorrell Booke, you gotta wear a fat suit to be Boss Hogg.


The hat that is attached to the package is not crushed on the Boss costume.  It is a pretty nice Boss Hogg hat.  It reminds me of the plastic white hat that came in the old HG playset.


The back of the package says the jumpsuit uses a wire hoop for the fat effect.  I love seeing the WB (s15) mark.  Keep those new Dukes of Hazzard items coming!


All three costumes were manufactured in Dongyang, Zhejiang, China.  Boss and Daisy were produced in Jan-March of this year, and Rosco was made in April-June, 2015.  All three costumes can be found on different online Halloween stores.  I haven't been to any pop-up Halloween shops that show up at vacant stores in the mall to see if these are available there.  Your best best would be to google them and find the best prices.  Boss Hogg runs from about $60 to $80, Rosco and Daisy seem to go for between $40 and $60.  A lot of the sites have Boss Hogg but not as many have the other two.


Since we've been discussing Hazzard Halloween costumes, let's take a look back at Dukes costumes that were released in the past.


In the dawn of the Modern Era of Dukes of Hazzard (2005) Rubies released three Dukes costumes, Bo, Luke, and Daisy.  They came packaged on a hanger and included a shirt, hat, wig, and belt buckle.  The package design also follows the modern theme.  The shirts are higher quality than you would expect from a costume and include a Dukes of Hazzard tag on the inside.  These shirts have been sold "loose" as official Dukes shirts, but they all originated from the costumes.


The wig comes in the bubble on the package.


The belt buckles have a picture of the General Lee on them... just in case no one recognizes you at the Halloween party.


These are trademarked 2005 WB.


Daisy's costume includes a bouquet of  "daisies" instead of a hat.  It also has the red and white plaid design.


It came with a pair of faux Daisy Dukes as well. (Three times!)  I assumed Fun World didn't release a Bo and Luke costume because Rubies did within the last ten years, but they released a Daisy back then and Fun World's Daisy is almost identical.  How come no Duke Boys Fun World?  I also have the Rubies Bo costume, but I didn't include it in these pictures.


Way back in the Golden Era of Dukes, kids wanted to dress like the citizens of Hazzard.  Ben Cooper released two different Dukes of Hazzard costumes.  Like most Ben Cooper costumes, these costumes included a thin palstic mask and plastic outfit that didn't really look like what the character wore as much as just naming the show or movie the character was from.  Ben Cooper released a Bo and a Boss Hogg costume.  I couldn't find my Boss Hogg costume to include in these pictures.  Originally they were released in generic Superhero boxes, and a   year later in their own Dukes decorated box.


Here is the side of the two boxes.  Notice it is just called the "Dukes of Hazzard" costume and not the Bo Duke.

Ah, the '80s.


The Ben Cooper costumes were also released on a cardboard hanger.  See what I mean about the outfit?  Bo always wore a confederate flag shirt that also included a picture of his car...right?  I made the same joke when I first blogged about this costume in 2013.  Way to stay consistent Larry!


This particular costume was once sold for fifty cents.  Whoa.  I still have to find a Boss Hogg Ben Cooper costume on a cardboard hanger.

Now you may be thinking about my Halloween costume choices and if I am using any of these this year.  Nope.  I will be keeping these new Fun World costumes sealed.  I've never officially gone as a Dukes character for Halloween.  I am currently working on this year's costume.  Why not take a look back at the award winning costumes I've made.








Larry's Halloween Costumes
Mrs. Doutfire
The Terminator


Stay tuned for this year's costume.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Dukes of Hazzard TV Show Cast and Crew Jacket


I am so excited about this one.  I just acquired this beautiful Dukes of Hazzard Television Show Cast and Crew Jacket.  These were only given out to the cast members and select members of the crew. This is an extremely rare item.


It's styled after police jackets from the era.  The only part of it that doesn't look police official is the giant Dukes of Hazzard logo on the back.  


Yep, it's giant, and it's wonderful.  


The left arm has the Hazzard County Sheriff's Department badge on it.  This was made during the run of the show, so this was probably made by the same prop makers that made the badges worn on Rosco, Enos, and Cletus' costumes.  That's incredible.  


The right side has a great American flag patch.  There is minor fraying around the patches, but that is the only issue with the condition on the whole jacket.  


The only tag in the jacket reads Butwin Sportswear Co.  Google tells me that Butwin Sportswear was founded in the 1930s and popularized the letterman jacket.  This jacket is guaranteed  to meet LAPD specifications.  This is the real deal.  


When the studio gifted the jackets to the cast and crew, they were personalized.  I've seen Cooter's before and his has Ben stitched into it.  Mine says "Len."  I'm not entirely sure who Len is.  I got the jacket from someone in California who discovered it in a storage locker.  It is in such perfect condition that it might have been in there since it was given to Len.  It appears never to have been worn.  Knowing that it was given to cast and crew, I did some research and it might have belonged to writer Leonard Kaufman.  He was a writer and executive story editor on the show for most of its run. Mr. Kaufman was also a writer and producer on classic shows like Hawaii 5-0 and Flipper.  He lived in Hollywood and passed away in 2009.  The jacket could have belonged to him.  


When I received it, my first thought was it looked too small for me, but when I tried it on, it fit perfectly.  I love this jacket.  


I was born to wear this jacket.  It is in such great condition.  Len must never have worn it because it almost seems brand new.  I love having a giant Dukes of Hazzard logo on my back.  


You can just call me Len.  This thing seriously fits perfectly.  It is a jacket built to LAPD specs.  It isn't brittle or weak at all.  I'm going to wear it on occasion.  If there is a cool weather Dukes event in Sprerryville this year, look forward to seeing me in this bad boy.



I was able to locate a few behind the scenes shots of the cast in their jackets.  On top is Catherine Bach wearing hers, and below is Sorrell Booke and Ben Jones in theirs.  That's obviously Daisy, Boss Hogg, and Cooter sporting the same jacket I now have in my collection!


I'm a collector of little orange cars.  To think that three jackets would be centerpieces in my collection is a strange notion.  But these three jackets, my new TV Cast and Crew Jacket, the movie Carhartt Cast and Crew Jacket, and the movie Columbia Stunt Crew Jacket are just amazing.  They compliment the little orange cars very nicely.


If you spotted a few orange cars in the above picture, here's a fun shot. The jackets look great where they are.  I think I'll keep them there.